The UNIFICATION Project
by anand891996
Summary: Touma Kamijou and Misaka Mikoto caused the failure of the sisiters project with their actions. How will the City react? What is the purpose behind the creation of Academy city? AU past SISTERS saga, more detailed summary inside. Going to have lots of blurry lines. Revised and reuploaded.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I was rewatching the series...I had skipped the SISTERs arc in my first round (I watched the Railgun series first)...The fight against accelerator in that was so...underwhelming...**

 **Anyway, as with the original, the description of the first scene is from the Railgun series, not the Index series. If you haven't watched Railgun, I would strongly suggest that you at least watch the 17 episodes of season 2 of Railgun. Season 1 is mostly slice of life shit. The SISTERs arc is so...OMFG brilliant in that. Much better than the same arc in Index**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _August 21_ _st_ _, 8:50 pm_

 _One of the City Storage Depots_

 _"Shit!"_ Mikoto thought as the coin once again slipped through her fingers at a crucial juncture.

She could only watch in deepening horror as the half-crazed Accelerator flew towards Touma, seemingly intent on destroying him as he had so many of her sisters.

Her horror turned to shock when Touma's hand hit Accelerator's, with the latter's fingers bending at an angle it should never achieve with a sickening _crunch_.

 _"He is able to touch him...HOW IS HE ABLE TO TOUCH HIM!?"_ she thought incredulously, mouth wide open at the seemingly impossible phenomenon taking place in front of her.

* * *

 _"Why...why can't I break this guy?"_ Accelerator thought, eyes wide as he watched the boy's right fist heading for his nose, the same right fist with which he had already punched him with once before, the same fist that had broken his fingers moments ago.

As the world grew dark around the edges, his last thought was, _"Just what on earth am I doing?"_

* * *

 _A Laboratory a few miles away, same time_

An old man with a deceptively mild demeanor watched as the impossible took place, a deep frown marring his features

 _"I will have to adjust my theories then...how bothersome..._ " He thought as Accelerator flew backwards on the screen in front of him. _"Very interesting though..."_

His eyes went to another screen, one showing the face of one of his most uncooperative test subjects, one who had caused the project to run into costs much higher than predicted thanks to her incessant meddling, a witness and catalyst to the failure of what was one of the most promising avenues of research into just how far an esper's power could be pushed.

His scowl deepened, and on the spur of the moment, he made a decision, a decision not based on logic or rationality, but based on the fact that he was _extremely_ irritated at the moment with Misaka Mikoto. That it would probably help push the limits of what could be achieved through scientific reasoning was, for once, not the primary motivation for his decision.

He picked up the receiver of a phone with a hard-wired optical connection to the person he intended to call, such connections still the most secure in his world, something not even the precocious Railgun could intercept unless she had direct access to a terminal connected to the same network.

The call was picked up on the first ring, something which he found mildly surprising given just how many things the Director was doing at any given time.

He hadn't ever met the Director in person, but even then, the person gave of an aura of danger even through his voice, a deceptively mild voice that came from a person capable of creating a place where it was possible to perform experiments without having to think about pesky, pervasive concepts like _ethics_.

" _What is it?"_ came the voice on the other end.

"The research pertaining to the achievement of level 6 has hit an… interesting and inconvenient snag. I am sure you are aware of the events unfolding."

 _"Your point?"_

"The girl has gone a step too far in her endeavor to halt the evolution of the primary subject. As you are aware, even though she is the tertiary subject, the probability of her evolving is extremely small compared to both the primary and secondary subjects. She needs to be contained or eliminated. While there is no sign of the boy's previous involvement, His ability to land blows on the Accelerator is unusual. I request your permission therefore to acquire both for the research on the UNIFICATION project."

A short silence followed the request, before the Director replied.

" _While I agree that the interference is now more than just an annoyance and needs to be addressed quickly, what is your reasoning for asking the girl be acquired for the UNIFICATION project?"_

"The girl is stable, far more so then either Accelerator or Dark Matter. Dr. Trivedi refused to use either of them as subjects, claiming that mental stability is a must for her research. While we never entertained the possibility before because of her vanishingly small potential for achieving Level 6, she is still a prodigy, and should be an acceptable subject for Dr. Trivedi." the old man said. Gathering his courage, he added, "I would also request that I be moved onto the UNIFICATION project while the calculations for the Level 6 shift project are redone." He also noted that the Director hadn't asked about the boy, and thus kept his observations about his potential to himself.

There was a short pause over the line, before the Director replied.

" _Stick to the level 6 project. Your view has its merits, I hadn't thought of the possibility of the girl being a viable candidate, though I am sure that is not the main reason for your request. Another team with more knowledge and experience in that line of thought will be assigned to this project. The boy cannot be used for…. Other reasons which are above your security clearance. The only thing I can say is that he is under_ _ **their**_ _protection, and has a unique position in that world"_

"As you command." He acknowledged, swallowing his curiosity about the boy after the mention of the other side

" _Very good."_

There was a click as the call cut off, and the man turned back to the bank of screens in front of him, focusing upon the one showing Misaka Mikoto.

 _"While it was initially out of irritation, the thought still has merit. She should prove useful to Dr. Trivedi. I wish she would tell us how she thinks she can achieve what we have been struggling to do for almost two decades now..."_ the man thought as he contemplated his next move.

 _"Well, on the bright side, even though I am not directly involved, the avenue that Dr. Trivedi intends to pursue has its merits despite the high costs..."_ he thought, a smile back on his face.

 _"I hope you enjoy your reassignment, Railgun_." He thought, a his smile gaining a feral quality.

* * *

 _August 24_ _th_ _, 8:30 am_

 _Tokiwadai Girl's Dormitory_

The sunlight poked through a gap in the curtains to fall upon the face of a sleeping Misaka Mikoto, causing her to groan slightly and stir, attempting to move away from the offending radiation disturbing her sleep.

However, this task was proving to be difficult given that somebody's arms were around her.

"Onee-Sama, Stop moving around so much, I am trying to sleep here..." Kuroko mumbled.

Eyes still closed, Mikoto complied with her request. She didn't really want to disturb Kuroko...

Misaka's eyes flew open as she fully registered Kuroko's presence on her bed.

Roughly pushing Kuroko away from her and off the bed, she shouted, "KUROKO! What have I told you about sneaking into my bed at night?!"

"Onee-sama, stop being so loud and rude this early in the morning." Kuroko said as she picked herself up from the floor, yawning and completely ignoring Mikoto's question.

"You...You..." Mikoto sputtered incoherently, sparks escaping from her bangs as they were wont to do when she was close to losing control.

 _"Deeeeeep breaths Mikoto-chan! Deep breaths! It's a bad thing to char Kuroko to a crisp! She is my closest friend and confidant, caaaalm down."_ Mikoto thought to herself, eyes closed as she attempted to calm herself down.

 _"What does that say about you that your closest friend is also you creepiest stalker?"_ A treacherous part of her mind countered.

 _"Shut up!"_ She thought, pushing the thought away.

"Besides, how do you expect me to control myself when you are lying next to me, so sweet and innocent..." Kuroko said as she pulled Mikoto into an unwelcome hug, and then attempted to grope her once more.

 _"_ KUROKO!" Misaka shouted, losing the battle with her temper

* * *

A few seconds later, Mikoto stretched out, ignoring the slightly smoking body on the floor with the ease of practice and started going through her morning routines.

Her thoughts wandered to the events of the past three days, and she felt her mood lift, a huge grin breaking across her face.

 _"It's finally over!"_ she thought, bouncing slightly. _"I… I mean we stopped it!"_ hugging herself, squealing slightly.

 _"Speaking of which, I have to give Touma those cookies"_

Blushing slightly, she changed into her uniform and skipped out, intending to visit a certain unfortunate one and thank him again for what he did for her.

 _"He never even asked for anything in return…..though I feel I should be irritated that he just butted in without asking…"_ she thought as she put on her uniform, ready to take on the world.

* * *

Said unfortunate one was hobbling out of his room to get himself discharged.

 _"They might just as well put up my name on that room permanently. I come here often enough as it is. Fukou da!"_ He thought as he hobbled along

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just get out of my sight before I separate you into your constituent parts." I voice shouted from the room he was passing by.

 _"I know that voice..."_ Touma thought, pausing just as the door open to reveal a terrified doctor fleeing the room. In his haste, he forgot to close the door, revealing a familiar visage.

Ignoring the voice in his head telling him that this was a _bad idea_ , he walked into the room.

Accelerator was lying on the bed, glaring at the ceiling, a cast on his hand, immobilizing his fingers..

"How on earth did you end up here? I expected you to be treated in some specialized facility..." Touma said.

Accelerator turned to look at just _who_ had the balls to disturb him, and his blood pressure shot through the roof, causing a few veins to pop out on his face.

Touma gulped, hands in the air, motioning desperately. "Calm down! I just wanted to ask you some questions! I come in Peace!" He said.

Instead, Accelerator's good hand shot out, clamping on to Touma's right.

There was the sound of breaking glass, and nothing happened.

Accelerator's eyes narrowed, and he fell back upon the bed, releasing Touma's hand.

"You don't have much of a grip..." Touma muttered.

Accelerator turned to glare at him again. "What did you want to ask?" He gritted out.

"Ummm..." Touma stammered, not expecting to get this far.

"Out with it!" Accelerator exclaimed, nearing the end of his tether.

"Why did you do it?" Touma blurted out.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you participate in something as horrible as the SISTERS project. Why were you so desperate to get to level 6?" Touma clarified.

Accelerator's face darkened, and turned to face the ceiling. Silence reined for a few seconds.

Just as Touma was about to prompt him into replying, Accelerator took a deep breath and said, "I thought of them as expensive, wind up dolls."

"Huh?!" Touma exclaimed in disbelief. "How can you even think that!?"

"It was very easy. They certainly didn't take any effort to convince me otherwise. They were all like, 'Why are you asking such questions, it's not relevant to the experiment. Please continue killing us'" he said, his voice taking up a sarcastic and bitter tone towards the end.

Silence reined for a few moments as Touma parsed Accelerator's admission.

Accelerator turned to face Touma, curiosity writ upon his face. "What is your power?" He asked.

"Huh?" Touma said oh-so-eloquently, breaking out of his thoughts.

Accelerator grit his teeth. Honestly, why were people so damn _slow?!_ "I asked, what is your power?"

"Ehehehe...I am just your everyday level 0, nothing special about me..." Touma replied nervously.

"Bullshit!" Accelerator barked. "You are the first and only person to have even touched me. I answered your question truthfully, you had better give me a proper answer." he said.

Touma sighed. "My right hand negates all supernatural powers." He said.

Accelerator stared at him, face an unreadable mask. "You can negate all powers with your right hand." He said in a deadpan tone.

Touma nodded.

"That is the single most terrifying power I can imagine a person having." Accelerator said as he turned to face the ceiling again.

Touma gaped at him for a few seconds.

"If that was all, get out of my room." Accelerator said, still staring at the ceiling, an unreadable expression on his face.

Touma got up and sighed. "Well, if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to contact me," he said.

Accelerator once again turned to gape at Touma.

"Why on earth would you even want to help me in any way after what I have done?" Accelerator asked, bewildered.

"You clearly never understood just how... _human_ the sister's were. I doubt you would gone through with the experiment if you were aware of that. " Touma said.

"And just how did you come to that conclusion?" Accelerator asked, disbelief lacing his tone.

Touma shrugged. "I don't know. I still hate the fact that you killed so many of them. But perpetuating hate serves no real purpose. The only thing to be done is to give you the opportunity to atone for what you have done. " He said.

Accelerator stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then snorted. "You are the most incredibly naive person that I have ever met." he said, turning to lie on the bed face up, eyes closed. "Now get out before I pulverize you." he said.

"Sure. Get well soon." Touma said as he left the room, leaving a contemplative Accelerator behind.

 _"The power to negate all...That is just bullshit. How can he even_ _ **think**_ _of himself as a level 0 with a power like that!_ " Accelerator thought as the Touma shut the room's door.

* * *

As he hobbled on with his crutches, he noticed Misaka punching the air, having an intense argument with herself.

Catching the last few words, he asks "Pay for what?"

This caused her to freeze, hands in the air. She then she turned around and stammer-shouted "What are you doing out here?!"

"Huh?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

"Well…. Hospital stays aren't exactly cheap." he said "And I have a bottomless pit for a room-mate that gets angrier with each day that passes." he muttered, causing Misaka to look at him with a confused look on her face.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Touma asked.

"W-well.."

"Were you coming to visit me again by any chance? Yeah right! Like that would happen." Touma said, scoffing.

"I WAS NOT!" She vehemently denied.

"You don't need to deny it so hard you know" Touma says, slightly put out by the vehement denial.

Misaka looked down, mumbling something incoherently.

Moving closer as he tries to hear, he catches the last bit "Aree-g…"

"Aree?" *

Looking at spot she was staring at, he notices a small colony of ants moving about "ah, so you are doing some independent project huh? Sorry to interrupt then! I will see you later then, BiriBiri!" and continued on his way.

Suddenly, from behind, Misaka exclaims "Misaka Mikoto!"

"Huh?"

"That's my name you know! Not BiriBiri! You always call me that! Call me by my name!"

Giving a slight smile he said "See you later then, Misaka!" _"I wonder what that was about…"_ Touma thought Completely oblivious to the embarrassment and thoughts of the girl behind him….

* * *

 **AN: So that's the first chapter of the rewrite. Not many changes (That will come later) But I hope it flows better than my first draft.**

 **Anyone up for betaing this stuff? If so, send me a PM.**


	2. Chapter 2

_24_ _th_ _August, 3:30 pm_

 _Somewhere in the School Gardens_

Misaka Mikoto was currently bored out of her brains.

After the embarrassing incident with Spikey Haired Fool and the cookies, she spent a nerve-wracking hour with the dorm-mistress, who had been attempting to poke holes in her story abouther absence from the dorms post curfew for the past month or so.

Thankfully for her, Kuroko, as irritating as she sometimes was, was an awesome roommate who made sure Misaka knew whatever story she had used as an excuse from head to tail perfectly.

Therefore, while she was on probation for the remainder of the holidays, she hadn't suffered too much from the dorm-mistress' ire.

However, nobody else was free, and she found herself unwilling (read mortally embarrassed) to drop by Touma's room to give him the cookies.

It was thus she found herself sitting at one of the countless benches in the food district of the City Gardens, munching on a crepe.

 _"I could go to the arcade after this...get a some more ammunition for my Railgun..."_ She thought idly as another woman joined her on the bench.

Barely sparing her a glance, she continued to munch on her crepe.

A few minutes later, when Mikoto was almost done with her crepe, the woman turned to face her and said, "So you are the famed Railgun, hmmm?"

Mikoto glanced at her, and nodded. It happened more often than not, people recognizing her on the streets. At least this one wasn't fangirling her. Taking the last bite of her crepe, she scrunched up the paper, and started to get up. _"Maybe I will go to the arcade after all..."_ she thought.

"You have made a lot of enemies, you know, Misaka Mikoto." the woman said, causing her to freeze.

Mikoto turned to face the woman, taking her in properly for the first time since she made her presence known.

The woman was of clear Indian descent, with nut-brown skin and straight black her. She was wearing a white lab coat over a casual top and jeans, and was as relaxed as could possibly be.

Mikoto looked around, suddenly noting the lack of people in the vicinity. _Nobody_ was around, including the shopkeepers in the area, which _extremely_ unnerving, given that this was one of the most traveled districts in the City Gardens.

"Now, don't do anything rash, I just wish to talk, and make you an offer." The woman said to a tense Mikoto.

"What did you do to everyone?" Mikoto asked, unconsciously falling into a battle stance.

The woman eyed her posture. "Relax. There is nobody around but us, and I have no intention of harming you at this point of time. I am not your enemy." she said.

That did nothing to calm her down. "You said you wanted to talk, so talk." Mikoto said, now fully standing and facing her, ready to either bolt or fight at the slightest provocation.

The woman eyed her, still completely relaxed. "As I said, you have made a lot of enemies in this city. Your actions from three days ago has turned almost the entirety of the upper echelons of the City's researchers and administrators against you. You and the boy, Touma Kamijou, together were responsible for the most expensive and extensive failure in Academy City's history." She said.

"However, what you didn't know was that the level 6 shift project using the SISTERS from the Radio Noise project was doomed to failure anyway." She continued.

"What?" Mikoto asked, bewildered.

"The project was intended to fail. At least, there were powerful forces moving against shutting it down, ever since the conception of the MISAKA network. It was considered by a powerful set of people to be a complete waste of a resource with almost infinite potential. If left to us, the project was set to shut down approximately a month from now" she said.

Mikoto scowled. "That would mean another thirty of my sisters would have died to that monster's hand."

"That is true. However, it's the best we could achieve given that ninety percent of the city researchers were approving of the project." she said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Mikoto asked, eyes narrowed.

"Refresh the concept of Personal Realities for me. " the woman said.

Misaka blinked at the non-sequitur. "What?"

"Humor me." the woman said.

Mikoto scowled, but complied with her request.

"A personal reality is the basis of an esper's power. It is based on the Schrödinger thought experiment in which a cat kept in a closed box is exposed to a situation where the possibility of the cat dying is 50-50. However, until the box is opened, the cat's state is not known, and is can be considered to be both dead and alive at the same time. It is inspired by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. However, a person can theoretically choose one of the possibilities to be true ignoring the uncertainty principle, controlling the physical laws in micro-universe known as the personal reality, which can be manifested into the outer world as an esper's ability."Mikoto recited.

"Wordy, but good" the woman said. " In essence, you force your will onto the living world, correct?"

"A crude way to put it, but yes" Mikoto agreed.

"Suppose a large number of people fervently believed in a concept or set of laws, regardless of how the world actually works, do you think it will be able to become reality and everyone following those rules will be able to use the powers obtained by following those laws?" The woman asked.

Mikoto's face took on a thoughtful expression at that question. "But wouldn't that mean that everyone in the group have the same or similar Personal Realities?" She asked. "Is that even possible?"

"Hmmm... While multiple people having the same Personal Reality is not possible, powers that are a result of collective belief are certainly possible." the woman replied.

"Huh?"

"Do you believe in the concept of God?" the woman asked.

"Ummm...no? not really? I haven't seen any proof of any such concept.." Misaka said, thrown off again by the sudden change in track.

"That is true. However, a large number of people believe in that concept, though they may not agree on the specifics. Correct?" the woman asked.

Misaka nodded, still confused as to where this was going.

"So shouldn't it be possible for a person to derive their powers from such beliefs?" she asked.

"Huh. The way you put it, it doesn't seem so impossible..." Mikoto said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "But wouldn't we have heard of such things if they took place?"

"What do you think the so called 'Miracles of God' that so many religions refer to are?" the woman asked.

Mikoto gaped at her. "Are you telling me that those stories are true?!" she asked, disbelief lacing her tone.

"No, no, no." The woman said, giving a short bark of laughter. "However, there are people who derive their powers from collective belief." she said.

Misaka continued to gape at her. "Why are you telling me all of this?" she asked.

"The setting isn't private enough for me to tell you right now." The woman said. "I would like you to accompany me to my workspace, if you would, where I can elaborate in more detail." she said.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed at her. "Why would I do that?" she asked.

"Because, it is the best option you have right now. Already, the various scientific groups are moving, intending to make sure that you _suffer_ for the failure that they think you caused." she said. She then shrugged, and then said, "You can ignore my offer, but rest assured, I won't be allowed to make it again, and this is your benefactor's last ditch effort at protecting you from the consequences of your actions."

"Who is this benefactor?" Mikoto growled out.

"I can't tell you. Besides, I don't know their identity myself. However, know that he is the only reason that you weren't directly involved with the more...despicable experiments that take place in this city." she said.

"How do I know that this isn't a trap?" Mikoto asked, still extremely wary.

The woman shrugged. "Because I am asking not demanding that you come? If you refuse my offer now, I am sure that over the next few days, you will get summons from the city administration assigning you to something truly distasteful, and you won't have an option to refuse." she said.

Mikoto snorted at that. "Like they could _make_ me do something I don't want to do."

"You have friends and family, people you care about. They will be held hostage against your good behavior." she said, shrugging.

Mikoto paled at that. "Are you threatening me?" she growled out.

" _I_ am not. I don't even know anything about you past your name and a general overview of your publicly known abilities. I honestly don't care about you past the fact that you are the most powerful Esper who is mentally stable in this city. If you refuse my offer, I will just move on to the next person on my list" she replied.

"Who is this 'next person'?" Mikoto asked, frowning.

"Shokuhou Misaki. However, I don't want to use her as a subject given that her abilities affect minds other than her own. I can't predict the effects reasonably enough for her to be truly viable unless she can close herself off from the minds around her." she replied.

"Subject for what?" Mikoto asked.

"I can't tell you that here. You will have to accompany me for that." she said.

"Do I still have the option to refuse your offer after hearing you out fully?" Mikoto asked.

The woman nodded.

Still tense, Mikoto nodded back. "Before we do that, can I know your name?" she asked.

The woman smiled at her. "Sure. I am Dr. Aishwarya Trivedi, Head Researcher for the UNIFICATION project." she said, holding a hand out. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Mikoto took her hand and shook it once. "Pleased to meet you as well." she said.

* * *

 _4:30 pm, same day_

 _The Diamagnet_

Mikoto looked around curiously at the slightly cluttered office that the Professor, as she insisted as being referred to, had left her in, claiming that she needed to fetch a few papers before she started talking to her.

The building she was in deeply unnerved her.

The Professor had taken her deep into the research district of the city, to a short yet large complex which she referred to as the Diamagnet.

What unnerved her was the fact that other than the small, portable electronic devices that littered the complex, she couldn't feel anything that she could manipulate with her powers. No iron rebar in the walls, no metal doors or door handles. Even though the locks had keypads, she couldn't feel any electronics around them. Every single bit of power seemed to come from a point approximately fifty feet below the complex, and a few isolated clusters at various points. It was as though the building was designed to contain electromasters like her, and did little to engender her trust.

On the bright side, the Professor had left the door open, thus giving her an escape route if required.

A few uncomfortable minutes later, the Professor walked in, holding a large stack of papers in her hand. "Sorry about that." She said, taking a seat across her at the desk.

Mikoto looked at the stack curiously. "What are those?" she asked.

"Forms you will have to sign, if you agree to work with me." She replied.

Mikoto's eyebrows went up at that. "I thought I could refuse your offer." She said.

The Professor nodded. "You can, but I doubt that you will. It is an extremely intriguing concept that I am sure will catch your interest."

"And the concept is?" Mikoto asked leadingly.

The Professor grinned. "I told you that there exist people who have powers that depend on collective belief, correct?" she said.

Mikoto nodded. "There are espers outside of Academy City who have developed powers in a different way?" she asked.

"Ah. No. They aren't espers. They are magicians." The Professor said.

"What is the difference?" Mikoto asked, frowning.

"An esper forces his or her personal will upon the universe, bending it's laws. A magician, however, uses the fact that many people believe in the same concept and sort of...tricks the universe into believing that it is true." the Professor said, grimacing. "That is not the best way to put it though."

"What sort of concepts do these magicians use to power their abilities?" Mikoto asked, intrigued.

"Usually, religion." the Professor replied.

"That...is actually not so hard to conceptualize..." Mikoto said.

The Professor nodded. "When Academy city was first formed, it was to study the power of magic, and to see if it could be recreated on a personal level. The result of the latter was the esper research program. However, after a few years, a problem was discovered." She said.

"The most prominent and powerful religion in the world is Christianity, followed by Islam, together accounting for more than half of the world's population. Consequently, the most powerful spells are those based on Christian beliefs and legends. However, when espers attempted to use these spells, there was an unexpected reaction, causing the death of the espers participating in the project. It was later found that this was caused due to conflicting laws required to perform spells and maintain personal realities"

"This was a huge setback in the program. Also, when the experiment was performed, it drew the notice of the major magical cabals of the world, which were furious that scientists were attempting to dissect their 'God', leading to a complete information black out on magical practices to the members of Academy City. This was what set the researchers on the path of pushing espers to higher levels, to show the world that God is not necessary to give us power" The Professor said. "Also, the deaths of the espers involved in the experiment were...pretty gruesome. The researchers involved in the project were unanimous in agreeing that all research pertaining to training espers or magicians in usage of the other's power was too dangerous to go to trials again."

Mikoto frowned at that. "What do you mean by 'conflicting laws'?" She asked.

"The most powerful religions in the world are Christianity and Islam, both monotheistic, rigid religions, having a relatively fixed world view. While this makes spells powered by such beliefs extremely powerful, it also doesn't allow for other beliefs. You have to completely accept the tenets of the religion for you to be able to use spells based on it, and espers, being trained from a young age to never accept something without proof, were torn apart when they tried to cast spells without having the absolute belief required to cast such spells." she replied.

"As a result of the failure of this experiment, and the rest of the world's reaction to it, Academy City grew evermore resentful of magicians and their practices, which led to the current situation, where magicians and espers are distinct sides. While most espers are not aware of the presence of magic, most of the upper echelons of the city are aware of its existence, and are enforcing a fragile truce between the two sides. As long as Academy city doesn't meddle with magic, the peace will be maintained" she continued.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Mikoto asked, bewildered and feeling slightly overwhelmed. _"Just what have I gotten myself into?"_ she thought.

"I am getting to that. Now, Academy city was established initially to perform research into all supernatural phenomena, and it's ultimate goal was to heal the growing rift between scientific progress and religious sects. Most of the researchers in the city have forgotten this, obsessed with reaching the fabled 'Level 6'. Thus, three years ago, The Director approved the formation of the UNIFICATION project, a secret research group devoted to finding a way for an esper to use magic, and vice versa, and to also prevent any excesses that others might resort to in the name of scientific progress. While all the researchers in the city are aware of the existence of this project, to them, we are a front for forcing espers to perform magic to gain useful data from them regardless of the consequences, at least to those in the know about magic." she said, and then motioned towards Mikoto.

"Now as to why I am telling you all this, all the high level researchers in the city demanded that you be punished, even though you are one of the level five espers of the city, because of your visible role in the Level 6 shift project's failure. Thus, we were to recruit you, as 'punishment'" she said, air quoting the word, "for your actions."

Mikoto looked at the Professor, trying to evaluate the truth behind her words. They made sense to her, but she still had one question.

"Why are you attempting to help me so?" she asked.

"As I said, you have powerful benefactors, and a healthy dose of luck. Everything is dependent on your response now. It's a fork in the road for you. You can either join the project, and stay safe from your enemies a while longer, or you can refuse and throw yourself to the dogs." she said.

"Isn't it dangerous for espers to use magic, from what you say?" Mikoto asked.

"It is, like any other tool, dangerous only if not used in the manner that it is supposed to be. Rest assured, you won't be casting any spells for a long, long time. The mental preparation required before I believe an esper can safely cast magic is...extensive" she replied.

"You make it seem like I don't have a choice in the matter." Mikoto muttered to herself.

"You always have a choice. It is up to you to live with the consequences of your choices." The Professor said, shrugging.

Mikoto looked into the Professor's eyes, and said, "I have one last question, before I give my answer."

The Professor cocked an eyebrow in response.

"Do you even care about what I am past my usefulness as a research subject to you?" she asked.

"Hmmm... In first decade of this century, there was televised series that asked a rather deep question: what is the value of a human soul? The entire series they spent in trying to answer that question and it's nuances. According to me, it is limitless. While the honest truth is that I don't really care about you past your potential usefulness to the project, that potential is practically limitless given that you are a living, breathing person. Something that my fellow researchers keep failing to understand, narrow minded fools that they are." she replied.

Mikoto's eyebrows went up at that. "You...don't like your colleagues much, I am guessing?" She said,

"Not many of them, no. Not that they know that, of course." She said with a small smirk on her face.

 _"She seems honest enough..."_ Mikoto thought to herself. Out loud, she said, "Do I have time to make this decision?"

"Not really, no. I was asked to evaluate you and draft you for the project as required. I am not supposed to give you a choice to refuse if I found you acceptable as a subject. If you walk out without signing the paperwork I have brought with me here..." she said, motioning to the stack of papers she had brought with her at the beginning of the session, "It will be assumed that I found you ineligible as a subject, making it open season on you."

"Why go to all this effort to explain this to me? You could have just drafted me in, and I would have been none the wiser." Mikoto said, frowning.

"I would have preferred to do that. Much less of a hassle for me. However, it was your benefactor's request that the circumstances be explained to you. He said that it would make you more useful, not only as a subject for this project, but in general." she said, shrugging.

"Who is this guy?" Mikoto asked, frown deepening.

The Professor shrugged. "I don't know. Never met him in person. He is supposed to be my superior for the UNIFICATION project, but he does little to monitor me. This is probably the first time he has shown any real interest in the project."

The Professor then glanced at the watch on her wrist. "We are running out of time, Misaka-san. I need to know what your decision is, so that we can start with the paperwork if you say yes." she said.

Swallowing, and hoping against hope that she wasn't making another mistake, she said, "I accept your offer."

The Professor gave a broad grin at that, startling her. "Welcome aboard then! Let's get started with that paperwork, shall we?" she said.

Mikoto nodded, throat unreasonably dry. _"Just what have I gotten myself into"_ she thought once again, before turning her attention to the sheets being pushed towards her.

* * *

 **AN: There is chapter two folks. Probably my longest chapter to date. Read and review folks.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chp 3**

 **AN: Before reading this chapter, be warned, Mikoto will be expressing controversial opinions. Those opinions are not meant to offend, and are only meant to display her current mindset- that of an atheist and rationalist, who doesn't understand religious philosophy in the slightest.**

* * *

 _25_ _th_ _August, 4:30 pm_

 _Tokiwadai Middle School Dorms_

 _"What a surreal evening"_ Mikoto thought as she strolled towards her favorite arcade, referring to the events of the previous evening, where she had been inducted into what promised to be one of the most intriguing and secretive projects in the city.

It took her four hours to go through the paperwork, all written in head-ache inducing legalese. She forced herself to go through it multiple times, much to the amusement of the Professor.

While most of it was pretty standard, there were a few modifications to the secrecy clauses that caused a chill to travel down her spine at the thought of it.

While every other project she had participated in involved some amount of jail time and other penalties for breaching the secrecy clause, breaching the secrecy clauses for the UNIFICATION project would, in essentiality, cause her to be labeled as an enemy of state to both Academy City _and_ the country of Japan. She could be denied all civil rights, and it would be perfectly _legal._

When she asked why the penalties were so...severe, the Professor informed her that she had been let in on one of the world's largest and most well kept secrets, a secret spanning across multiple government agencies, all working together to put a lid on it, and thus, the penalties had to be more severe than just jail-time and a fine. Also, as an esper, and one of the most powerful ones at that, it was infeasible to keep her incarcerated against her will.

She also informed her that there was an informal agreement across the world that political asylum wouldn't be provided to those who tried to reveal the secret. Thus, if she blew it, she would essentially be a globally wanted criminal.

Her hand had been shaking when she signed that particular clause.

She also found out why the Diamagnet was built in such a way as to put her at a disadvantage- It was the lab where the Radio Noise project first started producing clones of her. There was initially quite a lot of speculation about the mental stability of the clones, and the facility had been designed to contain any rogue clones. Later, when it became apparent that they were stable, and nowhere near as strong as the original, the building was opened up to house other top secret projects, as the drive to isolate it electrically had led to it becoming one of the most secure facilities in the world when it came to cyber security.

She also got a little brief to explain the situation between the magicians and the city, something that the Professor claimed was something that she needed to know, now that she was in on the secret. It was in that that she found out just how the Spikey Haired Idiot was so good at fighting espers.

 _"The ability to nullify all abilities...that is just bullshit!"_ she had thought when she read it for the first time.

She also found out about the truce between the Anglican Church and the City, and the git's role in engineering it in the first place. All unintentional of course, by the looks of it. Apparently, he ended up sheltering one of the nuns of the Anglican Church from the Catholic Church. Why the Catholic Church was after the girl, the City didn't know, but they were eager to take any chance they had at placating one of the magical cabals at this point.

After the paperwork and briefing were done, she was given a bunch of letters and forms to be signed by her dorm-mistress, which allowed her to stay out past curfew for activities pertaining to the project, and a copy of the New Testament to read through by the time she reported back to the Diamagnet, two evenings from that point, on the twenty sixth.

Mikoto scowled at the thought of that book. It offended her sensibilities in multiple ways, both as a rationalist and a promoter of freedom of thought. While its general message was quite admirable, it also was so damn _inconsistent!_ Just reading it gave her a headache. It was nice as a storybook, but when _millions_ of people based their lives on it, claiming it to be an absolute truth, it was just plain dangerous. And then there was that line about 'false teachers' denying the 'master', bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

It was at that point that she decided to take a break and get to the arcade.

 _"But it will be interesting to see how those stories will be used to form spells..."_ Mikoto thought as she rounded a corner, only to bump into someone's chest, causing both of them to fall.

"Watch where you are going, you numbskull!" she said, rubbing her forehead where she had made contact with the other person. _"I really wish I were taller sometimes..."_ She thought with a scowl.

"Hello to you too, Biribiri" A dejected voice replied.

"Oh it's you..." Mikoto said, before registering just _what_ he had called her. Again.

"Oye, you never learn do you?" she said in a dark tone to Touma, who for some reason, was staring at the slits of a drain forlornly.

Touma froze, and turned around slowly, only to be greeted by a mass of popping veins and electric sparks.

"I'M SORRY!" He screamed desperately, backpedalling as he tried to gain as much distance as possible.

"Oh No! You don't get of that easily!" she said, letting go of her control over the sparks, allowing the two of them to be enveloped in a small storm of sparks and arcs.

* * *

A few minutes later found her breathing heavily, glaring at the wall in front of her. Displaying a surprising amount of agility, the idiot had scaled the wall almost as fast as she could have, and disappeared over it with a thud and a groan. While she could have continued the chase, her anger had already burnt out. Besides, she needed to catch her breath.

 _"Honestly, it is just one name! How hard can it be to remember!?"_ she thought exasperatedly as her breathing slowly normalized.

She turned around, walking out of the alley, only to freeze in shock as she reached the main street.

There was a cluster of unconscious bodies on the ground, a few of them sporting gruesome, yet non life-threatening injuries.

Standing in the middle of it all, yawning in boredom, was Accelerator.

"I really hate puppies" he said to no one in particular, and walked away, not even noticing Mikoto standing shocked in the alley entrance.

 _"What on earth was that all about?"_ she thought as she recovered from the shock. She brought her phone out and called the emergency services, before getting away from the scene. She had no interest in wasting her day being interrogated. She still had to finish reading the New Testament, and also find out more about a certain Dr. Aishwarya Trivedi before she visited her again tomorrow. She wasn't stupid enough to challenge Accelerator again after being shown just _how_ powerless she was compared to him.

* * *

 _25_ _th_ _August, 5:30 pm_

 _Tokiwadai Middle School Dorms_

Misaka frowned at the screen in front of her, trying to parse the results of her search. While Dr. Trivedi was a listed researcher in the data base, there was nothing else known about her. Her listed field was Psychology, and her papers were not available for public perusal. Digging deeper into the network revealed nothing about her. It wasn't that it was classified information, the information was _just not there!_

That in itself was extremely odd. It was impossible for someone, especially a researcher, however low profile they may be, to leave absolutely no digital signature in a place like Academy City, where everything was automated as much as possible. Someone had take great efforts to eliminate as much of Dr. Trivedi's footprint and make her as unassuming as possible. Other the fact that she was Indian citizen and a psychologist, there was nothing about her.

"Onee-sama, what are you frowning at?" Kuroko asked, peering up from her bed over Mikoto's shoulder.

Mikoto's frown deepened. "I was trying to find out more about this researcher before trying to join her research project" she said.

"Oh, another one approached you?" she said, peering interestedly. "What was it about?" she asked.

"She didn't say..." Mikoto said, focusing on the screen so as to not look into Kuroko's eyes.

"That is suspicious..." Kuroko said, trailing off.

"Ergo..." Mikoto said, gesturing vaguely at the screen, before pushing it down in frustration.

Kuroko's eyebrows went up at her expression. "What's the problem?" she asked.

"Never you mind" Mikoto said, waving her off. "It's not like I am going to accept it anyway." she lied.

Kuroko shrugged. "When do you plan to turn in?" she asked.

"Probably after my bath..." she said, mind wandering onto what the Professor had revealed.

A few seconds later, her thoughts were broken into by a surprised exclamation.

"Onee-sama, since when do you read..." she said, voice and expression twisting in disgust, "Religion"

She was holding the copy of the New Testament between two fingers, holding it as far away as possible from her, as though the book might infect her if it got too close to her body.

"Ummm...It's something I picked up out of curiosity? It's not very good to be honest..." Mikoto said, eyebrows almost into her bangs at Kuroko's reaction.

Kuroko snorted. "That's right, it's absolute trash." She said, indelicately tossing the book back onto the covers.

"Have you read it?" Mikoto asked curiously.

Kuroko once again snorted indelicately. "Never have and never will. It's all claptrap anyway."

 _"Huh. I never expected Kuroko to be so close minded about something."_ she thought as Kuroko made her way to her own bed, settling down to read her own book, and she made her way to the showers, still preoccupied with the mysterious Dr. Trivedi

* * *

 _26_ _th_ _August, 4:30 pm_

 _The Diamagnet, Prof. Trivedi's Office_

"So, what did you think of the New Testament?" the Professor asked as she sat down at her desk, with Mikoto facing her.

"It was an interesting book... based on about the half I was able to get through in these two days.." she replied thoughtfully, "but it is horribly inconsistent, and there were parts of it that seemed to reject the fact that other lines of thought could and should exist..."

"Ah. Not the answer I was really looking for, though it is interesting that you came to those conclusions from just your first read.." the Professor said.

"Anyway, today, we will be talking about mana" The Professor said, changing the topic. "Mana is the basis of all magic, and exists in all living things, and within the earth itself. A magician shapes this mana to perform spells."

Mikoto gave the Professor a dubious look. "Mana?" she asked skeptically.

"It would be better to think of it as free energy. It is measurable, just so you know. It is odd because it does not normally interact with the universe in any form that we are familiar with. Raw mana cannot interact with the material world unless it has been shaped by a magical construct or a person. The only thing capable of interacting with mana is a sentient and self-aware mind."

"And people use religious concepts to shape this mana?" Mikoto asked.

The Professor nodded. "Precisely. While technically it can be done without, using religious faith as a focus is a powerful tool for processing mana."

"Hmm...so many people assigning the same meaning to the same thing would give it more power? Why so?" Mikoto asked.

"It is like a forest path, mana. The more that the same route is used, the easier it is to traverse it. When many people assign the same meaning, the path is beaten out faster, and becomes easy to use. Instead of shaping the spell with only your intent, you shape it with the intent of others as well as yours." The Professor replied.

Mikoto frowned. "You said that Espers were a results of the scientific community trying to recreate magic on a personal level. Does that mean espers use mana?" Mikoto asked.

"Hmmm... the short answer is yes. However, the manner in which they manipulate it is very different. It is one of the many reasons that espers are incapable of performing the feats that magicians do. While magi will claim that espers are incapable of processing mana, they are not entirely right." The Professor said.

Mikoto's frown deepened. "Is it possible for you to explain further?" she asked.

"I could, but it would be better if I did so after I have explained to you better how to at least sense the flow of mana around you..." she replied, sounding uncertain.

"Try me." Mikoto said.

"Hmm...Alright. Let's see...as I said, magicians-" the Professor said, before suddenly breaking off and staring intently at the wall on her left.

"Professor?" Mikoto asked, confused.

The Professor ignored her, and opened up the laptop sitting at her desk, quickly manipulating a few keys. She frowned at the screen, seemingly dissatisfied at the results.

"Ummmm...Professor?" Mikoto tried again.

"Ah. Sorry. We have a couple of intruders trying to break in to the facility, and I doubt the security staff will be able to take care of them." she said.

Mikoto's eyebrows climbed at that. The security staff she had seen up to now had been almost terrifyingly competent at what they were doing from what she had seen. Because the Diamagnet had been prepared with electromasters in mind, they were particularly adept at not depending on electronics to do much, using relatively out dated weaponry with ceramic ammunition. While still not much of a challenge for her, there weren't many who were that strong.

"Whyever not?" Mikoto asked.

"They are magicians." was the answer she got.

Mikoto frowned. "From what you have told me, they are much like espers. Why should they be more of a threat than any esper?" she asked.

"I am sorry if I gave that impression. A magician's powers are far more versatile than an esper's powers for various reasons. While the _potential_ of a magician is limited compared to an esper, generally, magicians are almost always comparable to a level 4 esper in terms of what they can do. It would be very simple for any mage to just redirect any untrained mind, something not even espers are immune to." The Professor replied bent down and started rummaging under her desk.

"How did you know that they are magicians?" Mikoto asked, stretching to see what the Professor was looking for.

"Ah, there we go." The Professor said, straightening up, with a small stick in her hand. " _Vardhayotu!"_ she said.

The stick expanded into a four foot long staff with a small gem at the top, startling Mikoto.

"To answer your question, It is because I sensed someone manipulating the flow of mana around the facility." She said as she walked out of the room. "Stay put here. The defenses are on their highest setting, and as a guest, you aren't authorized to move around. While I am sure you could disable it pretty quickly, I would rather you didn't." she said without turning around, and shut the door behind her, leaving Mikoto gaping at it in complete bewilderment.

 _"Just what happened?!"_ she thought to herself.

Remembering that the Professor had been looking at something on the laptop, she scrambled to the other side of the desk, hoping that the screen hadn't locked yet.

She was greeted by the view from one of the cameras at the entrance of the facility. What it showed caused her jaw to drop once again.

 _"What is that Idiot doing here?!"_ she thought.

* * *

 **AN: Yaay chapter out. Tell me what you guys think. I am aware that the wiki and the rest of the series says that espers are incapable of manipulating mana, but bear with me.**


	4. Chapter 4

_August 25th, 3:30 pm_

 _A random diner in District 7_

 _"I really hate my life sometimes..."_ Touma thought as he glared at the occupant of the booth.

"Do you really have to pretend to kidnap Index every time you want to talk to me?" Touma grumbled at the perpetually grim-faced Stiyl as he slid into the booth, his nerves settling down (mostly) now that he knew that Index hadn't really been kidnapped as such.

He knew, he just knew, that Stiyl was laughing at him for his reaction, even though he didn't show it. His poker face was fiendishly good.

"I have no clue what you are talking about" Stiyl said with the same expression on his face.

Touma sighed. "Where is Index now?" he asked.

"Somewhere safe" he said dismissively. "She will be returned to your care once our job here is done."

"Job? What job? I don't remember agreeing to becoming your go-to backup guy for any and all magical emergencies in the city! It has not even been a month since I was forced to help you!" Touma ranted.

Stiyl ignored him.

"For a few years now, there have been rumors about a certain research complex in this city which experiments on magic and magicians." he said, pushing a photo of a lowset building towards Touma.

Touma scowled at him, then sighed.

"Okay. So we are to investigate?" He asked.

Stiyl nodded. "The rumors weren't given much credit before due to the fact that it was nigh on unthinkable for the science side to risk the magic side's wrath by experimenting with magic. However, about a week ago, there was a massive surge of magical energy detected by our mages in Tokyo, and they traced it's source to this facility. Given that I am one of only three mages that are allowed to enter the city more or less freely, I was assigned to investigate this, along with" he paused to give Touma a dirty look, "You." he said.

Touma scowled. "First of all, what's with that look?! It's not as though I _want_ to work with you! And since when am I considered part of your organization?" he exclaimed.

"You aren't. That is the point." He said.

"Ummm...What?" Touma asked bewildered.

Stiyl sighed. "You are considered to be a neutral party. Thus, if something does go wrong and I lose my right to enter the city freely, you can continue to investigate." he said.

"And I would want to do that, why?" Touma asked, temper fraying.

"Because if the rumors are true, we have, at best, a rogue magician operating under the guise of a scientist, or at worst, someone experimenting with mages with the explicit permission of the city administration." Stiyl snapped, shutting Touma up.

Touma glared at Stiyl belligerently for a few seconds, and then sagged, running a hand down his face. "Let's just get this over with." He said.

Giving an approving nod, he got out of the booth, motioning to Touma to follow.

* * *

 _4:30 pm_

 _Outside The Diamganet_

"Don't you think we should... sneak in rather than walk up to the front door?" Touma hissed at Stiyl, looking around nervously as they walked to the large metal doors that served as the facility's main entrance, wondering why nobody had seen them yet.

"I set up a people clearing field earlier tonight and activated it before we got within range of the cameras" he said dismissively. "Nobody is there."

"Sure, that's true for normal people, but didn't you say that it was a _magical_ surge that was detected! Doesn't that mean it's a _magician_ who did it? Are they even affected by people clearing fields?!" Touma asked.

Stiyl paused for a second, and then continued on. "Almost no magician is immune to them. Unless the caster intends otherwise, everyone within a people clearing field clears out. So if we come across someone, as unlikely as it is, they will be quite powerful."

That did nothing to reassure Touma. Knowing his own luck, he knew, just _knew_ that something was going to go wrong and they were going to get their asses kicked by some super-powered magician.

By this point of time, they had reached the solid metal gate. Stiyl looked at it contemplatively for a second before muttering something, causing a sword of fire to erupt from his hands, his intent pretty clear.

Before he could do anything, the doors shuddered, and started to slide open, causing both of them to freeze.

Touma recovered first.

"Fukou da!" he lamented noisily, before dropping into a clumsy brawler's stance learnt from countless street fights as a student, while Stiyl readied his sword..

* * *

 _4:30 pm_

 _Inside the Diamagnet, Dr. Trivedi's Office_

Mikoto's eyes were glued to the screen, watching the progress of Touma and his companion through the cameras. Her eyes widened as the tall man created what appeared to be a sword of fire, ready to saw at the doors of the facility.

Suddenly, she felt the urge to _leave,_ to be anywhere else but _here._ This place was not meant for her, she did not trust it at all, with its lack of rebar for her to manipulate and generally oppressive aura demanded that she _leave_ this uncomfortable situation before something happened to her.

Nodding to herself, she pushed the screen of the laptop down, and walked into the corridor and towards the exit...

* * *

 _Diamagnet Entrance_

"Who are you?" Stiyl demanded from the woman who was standing at the fully open doors after a few tense seconds, during which she had done nothing to attack them.

The woman was wearing a lab coat over a casual yellow top and jeans, and holding a staff topped by an amethyst in her right hand.

The woman cocked an eyebrow. "You are the one's intruding here, you should be the ones to introduce yourselves first." she replied.

Stiyl and Touma exchanged a bewildered look.

Shrugging, Touma decided to go first. "I am Kamijou Touma, First Year High School student over here"

Frowning, Stiyl said, "I am Stiyl Magnus, Mage of the Necessarius division of the Anglican Church."

The woman gave a tight smile, and said, "I never thought I would see the day when a member of the Christian cabals would willingly work with someone from the science side..."

"Anyway, I am Dr. Aishwarya Trivedi, at your service. Now, what is your purpose here?" she asked, losing her relaxed stance, causing both Stiyl and Touma to stiffen.

Frown deepening, Stiyl said, "There was a huge surge of mana from this facility a couple of days ago. Given its location, we were obliged to investigate its source."

The Doctor's eyes went up, eyes widening in surprise. "The surge was that large? Huh, unexpected. Hmmm..." she replied, gaze turning contemplative.

"Were you behind it?" Touma asked, preparing for what he assumed was the inevitable fight.

The woman nodded. "I was. I expected a surge given what I was doing, but did not expect it to be detectably large. I wonder why that was..." she said.

Both Stiyl and Touma exchanged a look. This was getting more and more suspicious.

Deciding to push his luck, Touma asked, "Just what did you do to cause this mana surge?"

"I was clearing this area of residual mana. I needed it to be as clean as possible, untainted by foreign magical signatures, for my experiments." she said.

"Experiments?" Stiyl asked suspiciously.

"Yes, experiments. I came to this city to see how magic and science can be combined to gain more efficient equipment. It seemed to be very surprisingly lacking avenue of research. Never understood why." She said.

"Which Church are you affiliated with?" Stiyl demanded, losing patience.

"Church?" she asked, confusedly. "I am not associated with any church, thank you very much. I am, and always will be, an independent mage. I find the churches to be unnecessarily stifling." she said.

"That is enough for me." Stiyl growled. "I demand that you accompany us for investigation."

"On what grounds?" , the woman demanded, frowning at the change in tone. "I have answered all of your questions, and have not broken any of the international laws of magical use. I checked several times before I started to work here."

"The situation in this city is different. The balance is...delicate" he said.

"And irrelevant to me. I am not affiliated with any church, nor do I have any intention of causing any sort of ruckus that can be blamed on the various Churches." she cut in.

"Will you come along peacefully, or do we have to force you along." Stiyl asked, raising his sword while Touma looked on nervously.

The woman glared at Stiyl.

"Begone" she said, tapping the base of her staff on the ground.

A circular wave of force expanded from the point of contact, reaching the two of them before they could react. Stiyl's sword dissipated, and he was thrown back into the distance. Touma heard Imagine Breaker going off, and he remained in place, causing the Doctor to peer at him in interest.

"So I wasn't mistaken. You _are_ the wielder of Imagine Breaker in this time period." She said.

Touma frowned, hand raised. "How do you know that?" he demanded.

She snorted in amusement. "Your actions in July caught the eyes of every single mage in the world. A kid managing to accidentally broker a truce between one of the Churches and Academy City? It was quite the story, though no one really knows the details." she said.

"Now, will you go peacefully, or do I have to force you to go" she said, raising her staff, causing Touma to gulp.

* * *

 _Inside the Diamagnet_

 _Atrium_

Mikoto was frowning deeply as she walked into the Atrium of the facility. The automated defenses of the facility were surprisingly challenging, but without there were no human guards to take advantages of the openings provided. She had to admit to herself, if the original guard had appeared, she would have found herself pressed to escape. This only served to feed the discomfort she was feeling, intensifying the desire to leave the facility as soon as she could.

She was about to walk into the corridor that would lead to the main entrance when she paused.

 _"There are people other than the Professor out there. I can't reveal myself, the secrecy of the project is important"_ she thought to herself, hesitating. _"I can't afford to risk becoming a fugitive"_

But she _needed_ to _get out_! She could not stay here, she was trapped, becoming a fugitive was not so bad, she had her powers-

Mikoto gasped as she understood what was happening, violently breaking the mental compulsion, causing a few lights to blow out in the process as she lost control for a second. She panted, shuddering at just how _close_ she had come to breaking the most dangerous parts of her new contract.

As she caught her breath, she frowned, wondering just who had set up that compulsion, and shaken by the fact that it had managed to snare _her_ of all people, someone who was capable of brushing off the mental influence of Misaki Shoukhou with barely a thought...

* * *

 _Outside the Diamagnet_

"Ummm...can't we talk this out?" Touma asked nervously, not at all looking forward to a fight.

To his immense surprise, the woman lowered the staff and said , "Sure. No problems."

"R-really?" Touma stuttered, throw off by her easy compliance.

The Doctor shrugged. "I never intended to attack unless provoked to anyway. He was going to arrest me, and unlike the mundane police force, they have far less regulation when it comes to prisoner rights." she said, frowning. "Given that I am not Christian, I don't trust the Christian cabals when it comes to my safety under their custody."

"Stiyl wouldn't do that." Touma defended immediately.

The Doctor gave him a pitying look. "Such a naive little boy. The Christians are not very tolerant of whom they deem to be heretics, hypocritical little shits that their mages are. Besides, it wouldn't be in his hands anyway. If he is as you say, then good for him. I won't trust my safety to them."

Touma frowned. "What are you doing here. I thought mages weren't allowed in the city?"

" _Christian_ mages are not allowed in the city." She corrected. "Of course, given that almost all the mages in the world follow some denomination of the Christian faith, that could just as well mean all the mages in the world."

Touma frowned. "So you are a part of the City's research staff?"

"The Doctor in my name is not just for show you know. I am a bona fide post-doctoral fellow, though most of my research is classified, as it involves usage of magic, a secret to most of the world." she said, smirking.

"And just what do you work with?" he asked.

"I can't tell you. You don't have the clearance for it, and I have no interest in becoming a fugitive to satisfy your curiosity." she said, shrugging.

Touma frowned.

"Now, I have satisfied at least part of your curiosity, I am going to have to ask you to leave. The Church has no jurisdiction in the city, and I was just humoring the two of you. While I can't use magic on you, I still have a big stick, while you just have your palms." she said, holding the staff in both hands. "I would have just asked the guards to escort you out normally, but that stupid people clearing field drove them all away." she said.

Touma put his hands up, not eager to get into a fight without any support. "I am leaving! I am leaving!" he said, backing away slowly.

The Doctor nodded, and then turned around. "Get that other guy to take down the people clearing field. It's a pain having to keep resisting the urge to get out of this place." she said as the doors closed upon her.

Hands falling to his sides, Touma frowned thoughtfully.

 _"I am definitely going to keep an eye on this.."_ he thought as he walked away in the direction that Stiyl had flown away in. _"She was too suspicious by half..."_

* * *

 **AN: Heh, long break huh?**

 **It's exam season here...and it sucks. Thankfully, only my project left after this so.**

 **Leave a review with your thoughts folks!**


	5. Chapter 5

_August 26th,_ _4:40 pm_

 _Atrium, The Diamagnet._

As Mikoto took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, the Professor walked into the Atrium looking thoroughly annoyed. Her gaze fell upon Mikoto, and then upon the blown out lights around her.

"What happened?" she asked, scowling. "I thought I asked you to stay within my office?"

"What was the source of that compulsion?" Mikoto asked, ignoring the Professor's question.

"Compulsion?" she asked, confused. Her face then lit up with understanding. "The people clearing field. The mage set up a magical field that directs all the targets away from an area." she said.

"Just how strong is that compulsion?! I almost walked out of here, regardless of the consequences of me revealing my presence to those two" Mikoto snapped, quite deeply shaken.

The Professor's eyebrows shot up. "That you were able to break the compulsion without any prior exposure to it is quite the impressive feat." she said.

Mikoto stared at the Professor incredulously. "Professor. Ever since reaching level five, I have never been affected by any esper's mental compulsions. It just doesn't happen. How was this able to affect me?" she asked.

"That is because the nature of the compulsion is different." she replied. Her scowl deepened, and she then said, "We will have to continue this later. I have to be present to mitigate the fallout from this incident, and you are nowhere near calm enough for us to continue today. "

Mikoto glared at her. "What fallout?"

"The churches are aware of my presence here. It has to be addressed. Now go. I don't have the time to explain to you now." she said, and turned back into the facility, ignoring the glare that Mikoto threw at her retreating back.

* * *

 _26th August_

 _9:00 pm._

 _Tokiwadai Middle School Dorms_

Mikoto found herself climbing through the window to her dorm, half an hour past curfew, despite being released by the Professor about four hours ahead of schedule.

After being unceremoniously being kicked out of the Diamagnet by the Professor with no answers, she had found herself roaming around the city, trying to walk off her frustration.

A few arcades (and a pocket full of stolen coins) later, somewhere around eight, as she was walking through one of the several small alleys that littered the city, she was accosted by a group of high school kids looking for an easy mark. While she would usually just give them a (relatively) mild shock and keep walking, today she was in the mood for a fight to work off her head of steam, and thus fought using only her iron sand to see what she could do without the more overt parts of her power. Besides, she didn't want them to identify her from her powers and run away, and pulling sand out of the ground made it look like she had some sort of mass or particle manipulation power.

Fifteen minutes and half a dozen unconscious bodies later, she walked out of the alley to find she had missed her bus, which ended up in her climbing through the window once more. She wasn't too worried though, Kuroko would generally-

"Onee-Sama" Came Kuroko's voice as she put a foot through the window, climbing in.

 _"Speak of the Devil"_ Mikoto thought with a small smirk. She then noted the dark tone of Kuroko's call.

She looked up to see Kuroko glaring up a storm at her.

"What happened, Kuroko?" she asked, mildly confused.

"What happened she asks.." Kuroko said, letting out a slightly hysterical giggle at the end of the sentence.

"Kuroko?" Mikoto asked again, feeling slightly worried.

"Let me tell you a story, Onee-sama, a story of devotion and sacrifice, a story of unsatiated curiosity, a story of patience, and a story of betrayal." She said, still glaring at Mikoto.

She gulped, feeling a sense of dread come over her, though she didn't know why.

"In a certain city lived young girl, a girl so powerful that her powers could not even be measured. She attended a school in the city, and lived with her faithful sidekick in one of the hostels that littered the city."

"The city however, had a strict curfew, and the curfew in our hero's hostel was enforced by one of the most fearsome of guardians and keepers- a dragon!"

Mikoto winced, both at Kuroko's grandiose narration, and imagining what sort of trouble they were now in with the dorm mistress.

"Our hero, however, felt stifled by the unnecessary restrictions, and often stayed out past this curfew to do who knows what. Thus, her faithful sidekick took up the job of fooling the dragon into believing that our hero was where she was supposed to be."

"A few months later, our hero gained the permission to stay out of the hostel past the normal curfew for some reason. She did not think to inform her faithful sidekick of this development, the one who had covered for her absences with no questions asked, swallowing her curiosity about these late night shenanigans, patiently waiting for her Onee-sama to pour her heart out to her when she felt that she could be trusted."

At this point, Kuroko refocused her gaze upon Mikoto, who squeaked at the sheer amount of venom held in it, unconsciously letting out a few blue sparks.

"So, as usual, she tried to cover for her senpai, only for the Dorm Dragon to find out, and now has to clean the toilets again...for a month!" Kuroko finished.

"Eheheheh..."

"Onee-Sama..."Kuroko growled.

"I'm Sorry!" Mikoto squeaked.

"You had better be" Kuroko said scowling. "And why are you climbing in through the window, you idiot?!"

Mikoto gave her a confused look, at which Kuroko face-palmed.

"You have permission to be out. Don't you think you need to inform the dorm mistress that you are back?"

"Umm...yeah...Yes I do! Yes, I shall be going now" Mikoto said, thoroughly flustered and embarrassed.

"I am going to be demanding reparations!" Kuroko shouted at Mikoto's retreating back.

Mikoto gulped. This was going to be ugly on so many fronts...

* * *

 _25th August_

 _10:00 pm._

 _Tokiwadai Middle School Dorms_

An hour later, she found herself back in her room and on her bed. There had been a nerve-wracking interrogation by the Dorm Mistress about Kuroko's subterfuge on her part, though she had escaped without any real punishment. By the time she had gotten back, Kuroko had cooled down, though she extracted a promise for a day to be spent with her by Mikoto, something she didn't really begrudge the girl

Mikoto was just about to fall asleep, when Kuroko said, "The Dorm Mistress said you were part of a research group which was what allowed you to stay out after curfew..."

Mikoto turned to face Kuroko, and raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

Kuroko sighed. "I never got the impression that you were fond of the tests that the city threw at you. in the few months I have known you..." she said.

"To be fair, I have been a part of a lot of small experiments, but the last few months have been relatively uneventful in that regard. Also, we had a lot of other stuff going on, so I never really gave it much thought.." Mikoto said.

"I know that. But you don't go out of your way to participate in those experiments. I know that a lot has been going on, but I expected you to come to me if you ever needed anything. But you didn't even tell me about your new project..." Kuroko said.

Mikoto swallowed thickly at that. "I really can't tell you much, Kuroko. I can tell you this much though, whatever was bothering me these past two months have been resolved, at least for the moment" she said.

"And your new project?" Kuroko asked.

Mikoto gave a short laugh. "I can't tell you even if I wanted to. Secrecy clauses."

"You know that is just to prevent people from stealing their research. It's not as though I can do anything with what you tell me. Besides, what will they do, file a case against you? I doubt the City administration would stand for it, you are one of their precious Level 5s after all" Kuroko wheedled.

Mikoto sat up on the bed, and looked into her eyes."Kuroko"

"Yes?"

"Please, don't ever ask me about my current project. Don't try to investigate it. It's both for my own good and yours. While I am not in any danger, the same doesn't apply to you" Mikoto said in a flat tone.

Kuroko flinched at the seriousness in her voice, swallowed, and gave a short nod. Her Onee-sama was being unnaturally serious about this, and she would respect her wishes, for now at least.

"Thank you" Mikoto said, sagging in relief. She then lay back down on the bed, ready to be done with this day.

A few minutes later, as she was on the verge of drifting of, Kuroko said "Onee-sama?"

"Hmm?"

"Just so you know. I will always be there for you." Kuroko said.

Mikoto drifted off with a smile on her face, too tired to reply.

* * *

 _28th August_

 _11:30 am_

 _District 7_

"We will defeat you, Accelerator!" A boy said from behind him. He was surrounded on all sides by different Espers. He didn't care enough to count how many. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance though.

 _"Will they ever leave me alone?!"_ He thought.

"I heard that you were defeated by a level 0" another one taunted, prompting another twitch from his eye.

With two fingers he pressed on the bridge of his nose. He then started walking in the direction of his apartment, completely ignoring the espers surrounding him.

"Where do you think you are going!" One of them snarled, a female by the sounds of it.

He ignored her.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" the girl snarled, and threw a spike of water at him.

He didn't even bother to turn around, allowing the water to fall on his auto reflect. With one finger, he casually flicked an esper barring his way, and continued to walk away from the situation.

"You bastard" another one snarled, and that was the signal for all of them to attack.

Accelerator scowled as the variety of mass and energy came from the espers trying to fight him. There were too many for him to allow to just fall on his auto-reflect.

He didn't want to cause collateral damage after all.

Sighing, he recalculated the trajectories for the attacks coming towards him, changing their directions such that they hit each other without causing too much damage to the buildings around him.

"Arghhhhh!" one of them screamed as he launched himself towards him.

 _"Goddamit, it's all your fault hero boy!"_ He thought as he finally deigned to shut these idiots down. _"You are so going to pay for this!"_ He raged internally, as he flicked the stupid boy away.

* * *

Ten minutes and who knows how many unconscious bodies later, Accelerator was on his way, his general state of mild irritation with the world now heightened to extremely annoyed.

 _"This is getting out of hand! It's not even been a week since the incident at the storage depot, and the rumor has spread so far?!"_ he thought to himself as he walked through a park on the way home.

As he fumed along, his eyes fell upon the source of his irritation, trudging along the path.

* * *

Touma...was having a good day, and it creeped him out.

He had had no falls, no bites, and no unfortunate encounters with either magic or powerful espers, and it was already almost twelve in the afternoon.

"There you are, hero boy!" A voice called out.

Touma turned around, and his gaze fell upon the white haired boy trying to burn a hole through him with his eyes.

"Ah Ha! I knew it!" He said, a finger pointed at Accelerator.

"You know what?" Accelerator asked, bewildered at his reaction. Most people shat their pants when he looked at them...

"My day was going far too well upto now, and you are my daily dose of misfortune" he said, sounding oddly...relieved?

Accelerator massaged the bridge of his nose with two fingers. _"Nope, I am not going to try to figure that out.."_ he thought, before addressing Touma.

"We need to talk." he said.

"About what?" Touma asked, eyes narrowed.

Accelerator scowled. "About several things, one of them being your complete lack of fear for me. You do know I can kill you right now, freaky negation power or no?"

"Is that what you want to talk about? Beating some fear into me?" he asked.

Accelerator's scowl deepened. "Despite how tempting that sounds, that is not it." He then glanced around. "Do you know a place close by where we can sit and talk in at least a semi private setting?" he asked.

Touma cocked an eyebrow, and then said, "Yeah, I do. Follow me."

* * *

 _Close to 12:00 pm_

 _A Certain Vending Machine_

Kuroko sighed as she teleported herself and Mikoto away from the machine she had just kicked with a sigh of resignation.

"You really should stop doing that. It's undignified" she chastised.

"Shut up! This machine swallowed ten thousand yen of mine" Mikoto countered.

"And you have been stealing from it for how many years now?" Kuroko asked

"I am still a few hundred drinks short. I am taking back with interest" she replied.

Kuroko rolled her eyes at her Onee-sama's stubbornness as they took a seat at their usual bench a safe distance away from said machine. Mikoto popped the lid of her can, closed her eyes, and took a deep draught of soda. Setting the can down, she let her head fall back against the bench while Kuroko took a sip from her own pilfered can of soda.

"Oh hey there, Biri Biri" A voice called, causing Kuroko to choke on her drink, and then proceed to succumb to a violent coughing fit. _"Biri-biri? Who dares call my Onee-sama in such an insulting manner?!"_ Kuroko thought as she tried to get her coughs to subside.

"What have I told you about calling me that?" Mikoto growled out as she recognized the voice as that belonging to one Kamijou Touma, eyes still closed, a vein popping on her head, and sparks playing amongst her bangs.

"Biri-Biri? Huh, that is far better than Third-Rate as far as infuriating nicknames go..." another voice mused.

Mikoto's eyes flew open, and she sprung off the bench, glaring at the contemplative visage of Accelerator.

"You" she spat. "What are you doing here?"

Accelerator looked Mikoto's face going redder and redder with anger, and smirked.

"Honestly, I was following hero boy here." He said. "Keep that up, and you are going to have a stroke" he added.

"SHUT UP" Mikoto said, struggling to rein in the sparks threatening to spill from her body. While neither Touma nor Accelerator would be hurt, Kuroko was still coughing her lungs out beside her...

"Calm down BiriBi... I mean, Misaka!" Touma said, trying to defuse the situation _"Crap, I forgot that I was with Accelerator…. And that cocky bastard is probably enjoying riling her up"_ Touma thought

"AND YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM!?" Mikoto shouted, turning her attention on to him.

"He needed to talk to me it seems, so we were headed to Joseph's" Touma said

Mikoto stared at him incredulously.

"What… how… DIDN'T YOU JUST PUNCH HIS FACE IN A BIT MORE THAN A WEEK AGO!" Misaka shouted.

"Keep your voice down about that, would you" Accelerator growled "That rumor has already spread around too much, don't want people knowing it was him"

"Yeah, I have enough misfortune without that" Touma agreed.

"Of course, wouldn't want your perfect record to be tarnished " Misaka said in a sickly sweet voice.

Accelerator rolled his eyes "That's one part of it. I don't want to surrounded by those puppies." he said.

"Huh?" Misaka and Touma asked in confusion.

"It's what I call the idiots who try to challenge me based on this 'rumor'" Accelerator clarified.

"Why puppies?" Touma asks.

"Because I can't kill them despite them being irritating" Accelerator sighed. "it's apparently wrong"

Both Mikoto and Touma gaped at him, causing him to roll his eyes. He then turned to Touma. "As amusing as it is to rile up _Biri-Biri-"_ Accelerator snorted, causing Mikoto to spit a few more sparks, "We need to talk, and I want to be done with this as soon as possible" he said.

Touma nodded. "Right." he said as continued to walk past the incredulous Mikoto and now almost recovered Kuroko. "See you later, Misaka-san!" he said as he waved a hand at them.

Mikoto watched, frozen in disbelief as they walked away from her.

"Who was the white haired guy?" Kuroko asked, face slightly red from her near-choking. "And how dare the ape call you _Biri-biri_ of all things?!"

Mikoto broke out of her stupor, and said, "The white haired guy was Accelerator."

"Accelerator? The most powerful vector manipulator in the city?" Kuroko asked.

Mikoto nodded, and then grabbed Kuroko's hand.

"We need to see what they are up to." she said, dragging Kuroko along with her.

* * *

"We are being followed" Accelerator commented.

"Huh?"

Accelerator sighed "Just how clueless are you? Anyway, we are going to turn into the next narrow alley that we come across, and I am going to launch us into the air, so don't scream when I do that, alright?"

"How do you know we are being followed? Who is following us?" Touma asked, not fully parsing Accelerator's words.

"It's called being observant" Accelerator sighed. "Now, follow my lead" he said

He pulled Touma into the closest alley he could find, and then launched them up to the third floor fire escape.

A few seconds later, Misaka and Kuroko walk into the alley

"Where did they go?" Kuroko asked

Accelerator allowed them to walk ahead a bit, and then flicked a pebble at Kuroko's head with just enough force to cause her to faint

"KUROKO!" Misaka shouted.

"Relax!" Accelerator called out as he brought himself and Touma down "she has just fainted, though she will have a killer headache when she gets up"

"What do you want?" Misaka demanded

"What I want is for the two of you to stop following me. You are lucky that I am in a good mood now, else your friend wouldn't have survived this encounter" Accelerator drawled. "Now if you will excuse us" He said, clamping a hand on Touma's shoulder and steering both of them out of the alley.

"If you continue to follow us, Hero boy's chivalry won't be enough to prevent me from doing something more drastic than a warning." he called over his shoulder as they exited the alley

"Wait! Why are you with him? You know what he has done!" Misaka said, addressing Touma.

Accelerator growled "None of your business. Now, I believe that you have an injured friend to take care of, that should be your priority. Don't worry, I am not going to hurt your boyfriend here, we are just going to talk about a certain problem of mine that he can hopefully help me to solve." He said, pulling Touma away before he could reply, Leaving Misaka and the unconscious Kuroko in the alley.

* * *

 _Half an hour later_

 _Outside Joseph's Diner_

"Owwww" Kuroko groaned, holding her head "That really hurts. Let's find a place to sit quickly"

Misaka nodded, and entered the diner, looking around for an empty booth. Her eyes fell upon a head of spiky hair she was intimately familiar with.

"Kuroko, let's sit there" Misaka said, pointing to the booth directly behind the spiky head, which was luckily open.

"Eh? Wait! I want to get some ice for my head!" Kuroko said.

"We can ask the waitress for some. Come quickly, our targets are close!" Misaka said.

Misaka took a seat in the booth directly behind Touma, and as such could hear everything in his booth if she strained her senses a bit. Kuroko took the seat opposite to her, and leant forward in curiosity.

Misaka made a sign to Kuroko to tell her to keep her questions until later, and focused on the conversation behind her

"- To talk about?" Touma was saying when she started eavesdropping on the conversation.

A person, which Misaka assumed was Accelerator, sighed, and then said "I am sure you have heard of the rumors that are going around."

"What rumors?" Touma asked.

"That I was defeated by a level 0" Accelerator said with a snarl.

"Huh? How do people know about that?" Touma asked, confused "I certainly didn't spread it around, I have enough misfortune without my life being brought into the limelight!" he said, the beginnings of panic coloring his tone

"Oh calm down!" Accelerator snapped. " I know that neither you nor the third rate had anything to do with this, and it's irrelevant. I need to combat these rumors, they are having a very bad side-effect." Accelerator said "Besides, that rumor is not true, I wasn't defeated by a level 0." he muttered

"Huh?"

Accelerator snorts "If you think of yourself as a level zero with your power, I will fucking punch your teeth out, with or without my ability. Just because the tinkerers can't measure your power doesn't mean you are powerless. I refuse to acknowledge that someone marked as powerless defeated me in the way that you did."

An audible gulp is heard, and Touma replied "Alright then"

"Moving on, the problem is that people with no chance of touching me are challenging me based on this rumor, and it is proving to be an irritating problem. While I generally don't really even have to pay attention to those idiots given that my automatic reflection calculations take care of it, I have to ensure that bystanders aren't hurt because of them. Those fools just attack me everywhere without even checking to see if there are others around, and I cannot always be on guard. Even the people in charge of the SISTERS project ensured that the fights took place where there wouldn't be collateral damage. It's fucking pissing me off" Accelerator said.

"So what do you want me to do?" Touma asked.

"I want you to demonstrate you ability publically" Accelerator said

There was a pause in which Mikoto could imagine the Idiot gaping like a fish at Accelerator.

"What the hell? That is not going to happen!" Touma exclaimed.

"I am not yet done. Let me finish before rejecting what I have to say." Accelerator said.

"Alright…."

"I want you to do this demonstration without revealing your identity" Accelerator said.

"Huh?"

"You should publically fight some medium level esper, prominently displaying your ability, and claim the honors for my loss under that persona." Accelerator clarified.

"And that will help how?..." Touma asks

"Just how dense are you! If people see that you are powerful, then all these powerless shits who endanger everybody around me trying recreate my fabled defeat to a level 0 will stop coming after me!" Accelerator exclaimed "If you do this, I can safely acknowledge my loss to you without losing too much face"

There was silence for a bit.

Touma then sighed. "I can see how that will help, but the battle will need to draw a large crowd, and large crowds mean more chances of casualties. Also, you will need to tell another esper about the secret, at least partially, and I sure as hell don't know any medium level espers, and I doubt that you have any friends.." he said

"Of course you know a medium level esper. You know the third rate, for example" Accelerator countered, causing Mikoto to choke over her drink.

"She is not a medium level esper, she's a Level 5! She will kill me!" Touma sputtered.

"No she won't, and from what I hear, you have defeated her before." Accelerator said, causing Mikoto's eyes to widen. _"How does he know about that?"_ she thought, bewildered.

"How do you know about that?" Touma asked.

"The rumor going around is that a level zero defeated both the third and first ranked espers in the city." Accelerator said. "You actually defeated her?" he then asked, amusement coloring his tone.

"Ah? Yes? Maybe? She was holding back I think..." Touma said, flustered.

Accelerator snorted. "More like she underestimated you, much like I did." he said.

"Anyway, what do you think? Purposeless fighting just frustrates me, and I am in no mood to run away from the city with accusations of first degree murder to my name." he continued.

"I doubt that you are really bothered by the concept of murder..." Touma muttered.

"Of course not. I just don't want to deal with the fallout of one." he replied.

There was a pause in the conversation.

"You really have no qualms about taking a life?" Touma asked, curiosity lacing his tone.

"Not really." Accelerator replied.

Another pause. "You really are despicable" Touma said in disgust.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am a horrible human being and yada yada yada, will you help me or not?" he asked impatiently.

"Why would you even want my help? Why would you want to acknowledge your defeat in the first place?" Touma asked.

"Because it is the easiest way to force people to leave me alone. Because of you, the notion of invulnerability that being the number one esper gave is now gone. The main problem is that people think that it is a level zero that defeated me, and rectifying that would discourage most." Accelerator replied.

"Wait, so you became the most powerful esper...so that people would leave you alone?" Touma asked.

"More or less." Accelerator replied nonchalantly.

Once again, the conversation halted while Touma mulled over Accelerator's proposal.

Touma then sighed. "Alright, I will take part in this scheme of yours."

"Thank you" Accelerator said, relief apparent in his voice. "That is one headache solved."

"I am curious though. Why do you want people to leave you alone? Doesn't the fight make you stronger?" Touma asked.

Accelerator snorted. "After fighting ten thousand electromasters with military training, none of those even register as fights. All of those kids think they are hot shit because they have a little power. Any person with even a modicum of military training will be able to take most of them down. I don't want to deal with it when I don't have to." he said

Silence reigns again. Then Touma exclaimed"I forgot to get food for Index! Damn it! I have to leave, I am sorry!" and dashes out of the diner.

Misaka heard Accelerator chuckle, and then turned her attention onto Kuroko, who was holding an ice pack to her head, the curiosity showing on her face.

However, before Kuroko could voice her questions, a voice came from Misaka's left "Enjoying yourself, Third rate?"

Misaka turned, to be greeted by Accelerator's face inches away from her own

Misaka let out an undignified squeak, rapidly distancing herself from Accelerators menacing visage.

"I am sure you heard my entire conversation with Hero boy back there." Accelerator continued. " To be honest, I could've made a scene earlier, but couldn't bring myself to care whether or not you heard this particular conversation. But let me make this clear"

"If you or your friends butt into my affairs in this manner again, you will wish that you were dead by the time I am done with you" Accelerator stated with a growl.

Mikoto glared in response, causing Accelerator to raise an eyebrow. "Well, I have warned you. What you do with the warning is out of my hands." Having finished his piece, He saunters out of the restaurant, leaving a confused Mikoto behind.

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked, breaking Misaka out of her reverie "If what I heard just now is true, that means the ape was the –"

"Not here" Miska said, cutting Kuroko off "Later, when we are back at the rooms. For now, let's stick to the initial plan of meeting up with Saten-san and Uiharu-san. I haven't been able to spend time with them for far too long."

Swallowing her questions for the moment, Kuroko settled down to wait for the arrival of their friends, resolving to make sure that she got her questions answered before the day ended.

* * *

 _Tokiwadai Middle School Dorms_

 _9:00 pm_

Misaka flopped onto her bed, tired from the day's activities, at the same time feeling rejuvenated mentally

"Ahhhh…. Today was fun!" Mikoto said, a smile on her face "It's been far too long since I have been able to have a day with girls.."

On the other bed, Kuroko cleared her throat pointedly.

Misaka turned to face her, and noted her grim visage, causing her own grin to fade

 _"Well, the hope that she forgot the early morning excitement is now up in flames, remote as it was"_ Misaka thought, mentally grimacing

"So…..The ape is the level zero of the rumor?" Kuroko asked

 _"The moment of truth….. do I drag Kuroko into my problems, or do I continue to protect her from it…."_ Misaka pondered

On one hand, Kuroko was probably the person she trusted and valued the most. She was brave, smart, and her ability made her invaluable in a variety of tight situations. On the other hand, the enemies Misaka faced were not even fully tangible, and she was extremely reluctant to drag someone into a mess that she herself didn't fully understand. Also, if she did choose to involve her, she couldn't explain the entirety of the situation to her because of the oaths made when she joined the UNIFICATION project, a prospect which she found exceptionally distasteful.

Misaka took a deep breath, She made her decision.

"I cannot explain the situation to you, at least not now. There are various reasons for this, one of them being the oath of secrecy I had to swear when I joined the research project that keeps me out past curfew. If I try to explain it to you while respecting those oaths, it will place you in the dangerous situation of having to make decisions without having all the information, and will have to rely on me to make sense of it, a responsibility I am not prepared to take. The responsibility of a friends life. So please, trust me when I say that you should clamp down on your curiosity about what you have heard today. The only reason I am still here is combination of luck and overconfidence from the other side." Mikoto said.

Kuroko stared intently into Mikoto's serious gaze, then nodded "For now, I accept your decision. But this is not a permanent solution. I expect you to actively find a way to make sure I have all the information I might need to help you in the future."

Swallowing past a lump in her throat, Misaka said "Thank you Kuroko. For everything"

Kuroko flashes a soft smile "What else are friends for?"

* * *

 **AN: I hate exam season. And it is still ongoing. Fuck exams,**

 **On an unrelated note, It's now one year since I started writing this. I feel ashamed that I haven't even broken the 60k word count in my master draft...**


End file.
